Against the grain: psychologies and politics of secrecy

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Verne Harris explores the degree to which it still goes against the grain for archivists to open their discourses to what is ‘outside’. He suggests that what could be called the conditions of postmodernity have challenged the insularity of these discourses in profound ways, and argues that they have been enriched by engagement with other disciplines, professions and traditions. Reading against the grain of archival discourses, he goes further and argues that the boundaries between inside and outside have always been, and will always be, permeable. His illustrative reading focuses on that space we call ‘the secret’, offering a preliminary exploration of the psychologies and the politics of secrecy.